Expedition to Zanzibar and climbing Kilimanjaro

I succeeded only in 1998 when I reached the top together with Leszek Cichy, Mount Everest first winter climber. I recall that expedition with pleasure and I came to Tanzania for the second time when I had the occasion to. It was an expedition of friends. Our group consisted of: Katarzyna Pisera – a painter, Krzesimir Dębski - a composer, Wojtek Ostrowski – a film maker, Wiesław Walendziak – a politician and a couple of other friends.Before we stood at the foot of Kilimanjaro we visited Zanzibar Island. We wanted to rest a little and spend time nicely – we saw Red Colobus monkeys which live only on that island, we swam with dolphins in the Ocean, we dived. It was good to watch the boats, the children picking up the fruit of the sea, the women drying the fishing nets, the fishermen coming back from the catch. It was pleasant to walk the streets of Stone Town, see the clove farms, dream a bit…In the end we landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport and we started to trek towards Uhuru Peak – the highest point on Kilimanjaro volcano crater. The way was to lead us through a tropical forest and a grassland, up to the glacier in the upper part of the massif. It was not going straight to the top but it was going around the volcano, which let the trekkers see it from different sides.

Kilimanjaro is not a demanding mountain and everyone in a good physical shape can reach the top of it. You need neither special climbing equipment nor special skills to climb it. The main problem is the altitude – the altitude sickness can break any further trekking (only 25% of climbers reach the top). The last section is the most difficult one and we had to “labour” a little the last night. We left the camp at 4600 m ASL about midnight, lighting the route with our headlamps. Katarzyna was going first and we, men, had to put struggle hard in order not to be left behind. After eight hours of exhausting trek we were watching the sunrise from the top of Uhuru Peak at 5896 m ASL.As a reward for climbing the peak we went later for a safari ride – to Serengeti plain, Ngoro-Ngoro crater and the regions of Manyara Lake.